


500 Words You Should Know: #500 - Zenith

by RakishAngle (afterdinnerminx)



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 16:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5054977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterdinnerminx/pseuds/RakishAngle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dottie surprises Hugh with an unexpected day out</p>
            </blockquote>





	500 Words You Should Know: #500 - Zenith

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fire_Sign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Sign/gifts).



ze·nith  
(ˈzēnəTH/)

noun

1.The point on the celestial sphere vertically above a given position or observer.

2\. A highest point or state; culmination.

\--*--

"Keep up, Hugh!"

The Senior Constable lost track of his wife several minutes ago when she sprinted ahead of him. The newlyweds were visiting the Otways ostensibly to follow up on a private case. His best understanding was that they would possibly recover some stolen goods. It would have been better if these were officially reported as classified because if they weren't, there might be more foul play at hand. Hugh suspected this might be the case because the Inspector personally asked him to join Mrs. Collins on this outing. A few moments later, Hugh realized that while he was standing on the woodland trail thinking and blinking, he hadn't been walking.

"Dottie! Where are you?"

He heard her in the distance. "I'm here, Hugh. Just follow the trail."

He walked with large strides. Usually, it was her that had trouble keeping up. Today, she was very determined to get to a specific place very quickly. He loved his wife very much and hoped that she would start making more sense to him as time went on. 

Take that hat, for example. The hat that was hung from the branch in front of him looked like the hat Dottie was wearing earlier today. He collected it from the branch. It was still warm along the brim. Well, this was definitely her hat. Why should she have placed it here? It struck him that for a woman that had quite a lot of common sense, she confounded him an awful lot. 

"Dottie?"

"You are almost here, Hugh." Her voice sounded like it was coming around the corner. He stopped at the corner because he encountered her dress. It was hanging from a branch without her in it. He was certain that she was wearing this dress the last time he had seen her. Hugh carefully unhooked the garment from the branch and draped it over his dark blue woolen arm. This latest development worried him so much that he started trotting along the trail. To his chagrin, her undergarments were laid across the ferns in front of it. These were gathered by him as he continued his search for his better half.

Finally. There she was. Just past the curve in the boots he gave her for her birthday and the skin she was born in. Hugh extended his arm as far as it would go with his palm flat like he was telling a driver to stop their car. 

"Dottie, no! What are you doing?"

"I'm taking off my boots and then I'm going for a swim."

Some time ago, his wife had been advised by her employer to dress for her own pleasure. Lately, her pleasure had been to do without clothes at all. He had found her at the oddest of times stripped down to her smalls (or less!) in the middle of the day. Perhaps, it had something to do with her changing body. She stood up from untying the boots and started shaking out of them.

"No, no. Dottie you can't! Someone might see you!" Her dress was extended in front of him like a cape. Exactly no one was protected from either the dress or her nakedness, nor did they need to be. Every one else was very helpfully quite elsewhere.

"Well, Hugh. If anyone else sees me, you should arrest them right away. We are on private property. We are the only ones allowed to be here for the weekend."

"But...", the constable glanced around trying to process which complaint he had first. "There might be leeches in there, Dottie!"

"Leeches would not dare to make themselves known in Miss Fisher's pond. You know that."

Hugh watched his wife tread carefully into the water. She reminded him of a very pretty deer. A very pretty, pregnant deer.

"The baby, Dottie. You can't go in because of the baby."

"The baby is perfectly happy with my being here." She glanced back at him with know-it-all-eyes and pursed lips. It was the look he saw more than any other. "Besides, Dr. Macmillan gave her full consent for light exercise. I checked with her and she said that swimming, among other things, counted as light exercise. Really, Hugh. You should try lightening up."

The constable looked down at himself in full uniform, draped with all manner of her garments, standing with equal weight on both feet (he fancied himself sturdy in this pose). "But, Dottie. I'm on duty! You can't be naked. I'll have to arrest you for indecency."

"You aren't on duty. There is a piece of paper in my dress pocket. Why don't you try reading it?"

Sure enough, there it was. An official request for personal time off, signed by J. Robinson. It started earlier this morning and was scheduled to last for 3 whole days. But, he just saw the Inspector and was certain that he was told to come here for the purpose of collecting stolen goods. The skin between his eyes buckled and the cool air washed against his front teeth. This situation was very confusing, indeed.

"But, Dottie. The case. What about the case?"

"The only case that is currently open is the one about why you are still completely dressed when I am langorously swimming, au naturale." She punctuated the thought by rolling onto her back and kicking her feet daintily, as she'd learned recently with lessons gifted to her by Miss Fisher.

Hugh pondered. Several weeks ago, she did mention that she wanted to get away with just the two of them before the baby came. And, she did ask him to take time off, though he thought it would be better to take time off when the new baby arrived so he didn't do it. When he got home yesterday, the house was cold and empty, which was odd. However, she wasn't that late and she claimed that it had something to do with this case she was working on. Maybe, it wasn't a case like a robbery kind of case. Maybe, she was planning this. As he was thinking and standing and smiling, he was not removing his clothes.

His wife flicked water at him to get his attention. "A girl could go into labor waiting for you!"

Hugh put his wife's clothes down gently on a neighboring hunk of granite before making quick work out of stepping from his uniform. He splashed in and almost splashed right back out again. "Dottie, it's cold!"

She laughed as she pulled his arm toward her and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'll warm you up. It only takes a minute" His arms captured her waist and for his troubles, he received a little jab in his ribs and promptly looked down. "Hi there, little guy."

"How do you know it isn't a little girl?" 

"Oh, Dottie! Do you think we might have a little girl?" Dottie squished up her nose. Hugh Collins would love any child they would have together. That said, she knew full well that thoughts of having a little girl together turned him to mush. 

Dottie saw a tear escape her husband's eye. "What's wrong, Hugh?"

He was in paradise on an unexpected day off, with the most beautiful woman he had ever met in his arms, and she was pregnant with his baby. "I just don't think my life could ever be more perfect than it is right now."


End file.
